The two winners of last year’s Women and Gender Studies essay contest were honored Wednesday at a reception in the Yellowjacket Union on the University of Wisconsin – Superior campus. 

UW-Superior Sophomore Brianna Crumbaker of Chippewa Falls won over judges in the scholarly category while Junior Emily Alberio of Superior shined in the expressive-creative category.

The two writers took on two diverse topics. Crumbaker’s essay is titled, “Are We Truly Equal?: Women’s Issues in American and Muslim Cultures”. She focused on the similarities between the two cultures. Her interest in Muslim culture began in high school.

“I know a lot of people have this stereotype of Muslim culture. They think that their religion is oppressive, that everything is negative. And once I started doing research, I kind of learned the opposite because I’m a Christian personally and the Muslim culture is really similar Christian culture, very similar actually,” said Crumbaker. “When I learned that, my eyes were opened and I kind of wanted to do even more research and learn.”

Crumbaker says she hopes her essay will help more Americans understand Muslim culture.

“Muslim women are expected to show no skin, to not look at any man in the eyes and to generally be seen and not heard. However, what about our own society? Are women really treated in a much better way? In America, women have the freedom to whatever they please but it has come to the point in our society where the women have become sexually objectified and degraded in popular media,” she added.

Alberio’s essay took on a more personal agenda. She shared her journey through motherhood with her essay, “Two Pink Lines”.

“I spent the next month learning a myriad of lessons I’d never imagined I’d need. I learned how to love that tasteless cardboard they call hospital food and how to get extremely creative with the salad bar. I learned to sleep sitting straight up in a wooden rocking chair because the neo-natal intensive care unit doesn’t have adult sized beds. I learned that angels dress in cleanly pressed scrubs with pictures of stars or sheep on them,” said Alberio.

The room was filled with sniffles when she finished reading and Alberio was ok with that.

“If people get teared up or choked up, then that means I did a good job. I felt like when I was writing this I was pouring myself out onto paper. I put everything out there and that means that people got it,” Alberio said.

Crumbaker and Alberio each took home $150 for their winning essays. To read Crumbaker’s full essay, click here. Students are also encouraged to submit their essays for this year’s contest.